Treacherous road conditions had drivers and pedestrians eating ice, and emergency workers scrambling to treat them Wednesday.
By 7 p.m., “there’s so many (calls), I have no idea. I can’t even start doing math to add them up. I just keep getting them,” said Ottawa paramedic Supt. Darryl Wilton.
Calls came in for everything from “collisions to slips, trips, and falls.”
Firefighters extricated one person in a multi-vehicle crash — involving a tractor-trailer — on Greenbank Rd. between West Hunt Club Rd. and Fallowfield Rd., which sent two people to hospital.
The pair, in their 50s were treated for minor neck and back injuries.
Two people in another car were treated at the scene for minor injuries and the tractor-trailer driver wasn’t hurt.
Freezing rain began falling after 9 a.m. and Ottawa police handled 70 motor vehicle accidents between noon and 6 p.m.
Paramedics, meanwhile, responded to 18 calls for collisions with injuries and 20 calls for people falling on slippery driveways, sidewalks, and parking lots between 2 and 4:30 p.m alone.
And dozens of flights were delayed at Ottawa International Airport.
Environment Canada predicted the freezing rain would end by midnight, turning to periods of snow.
http://www.ottawasun.com/2011/12/21/ottawa-weather-ugly-wednesday-ahead
Kelly Roche - Storyteller 